Trump Peace Envoys Meet Zelenskiy in Kyiv After Putin Talks

U.S. peace envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv on Sunday as the Trump administration stepped up efforts to negotiate an end to the Russia-Ukraine war.

The meeting came after Kushner and Witkoff traveled from Moscow, where they held more than three hours of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday. The discussions produced no apparent breakthrough, although Putin described them as “highly useful.” A White House official said further steps would be announced in the coming weeks.

President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly pushed for a negotiated settlement, suggested Friday that Washington had developed a fresh peace proposal but provided no details.

Before meeting the U.S. envoys, Zelenskiy said he had consulted his negotiating team and reiterated that Ukraine wanted the war to end. He stressed that any settlement must include credible security guarantees and conditions for a lasting post-war peace.

British, French and German national security advisers were also in Kyiv on Sunday, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The visit marked Kushner and Witkoff’s first trip to Kyiv as U.S. peace negotiators after several visits to Moscow. Some Kyiv residents expressed cautious hope that direct diplomacy could move the negotiations forward.

Major disagreements remain between Russia and Ukraine, particularly over Donbas. Moscow wants Ukrainian forces to withdraw from fortified areas they continue to control in eastern Ukraine, while Kyiv has rejected that demand. Ukraine also considers firm U.S. and European security guarantees essential to preventing another Russian invasion.

The diplomatic push comes amid intensified long-range attacks despite largely static front lines. Russia has repeatedly targeted Kyiv with missiles and drones in recent weeks, including a Friday strike on the headquarters of Ukraine’s SBU security service.

The Kremlin said strikes on Kyiv would be suspended until Monday, while Zelenskiy said Ukraine would temporarily halt attacks on Moscow. Fighting continued elsewhere along the roughly 1,200-km front.

Ukraine said Sunday that its forces had struck Russia’s Ryazan oil refinery, about 480 km inside Russian territory, overnight and caused a fire, continuing Kyiv’s campaign against Russian energy infrastructure.